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Williams fire update: People treated for injuries

13 May 2012 – Podium music and cheering crowds turned into fire engine sirens and a general feeling of panic as the Williams garage caught fire after the Spanish Grand Prix. No serious injuries are being reported, although a number of staff from three or four teams are being treated either at the Circuit de Catalunya or in hospital.

It was initially believed that the car of Bruno Senna, sat in the garage of the race-winning team after it had retired from the race, may have suffered a KERS explosion. However the general paddock feeling is now that the blaze came from behind the partitions at the back of the garage as fuel canisters dramatically caught fire.

Much equipment was in the process of being packed away before it is transported to Monaco for the next Grand Prix in two weeks’ time. One mechanic is believed to have broken his wrist, where a colleague from Force India has been taken to hospital with smoke inhalation but is now in a better condition.

Caterham issued a statement which verified that four of its members had been examined in the circuit medical centre. It is also possible that a member of HRT may have been affected as personnel grouped together to help fight the inferno. Caterham has added that another communiqué with more details will be issued later tonight.

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